Chapter 7 Planning
The archers, tall with long legs and well-defined muscles, continuously highlighted their dangerous nature with arrows that gleamed menacingly in the dim light.
"Uh... hello, actually, I don't have any ill intentions."
After speaking a few sentences, Ethan awkwardly realized that no one on the other side was paying attention to him at all.
Language barrier!
This was the most frustrating situation when traversing planes, so he simply raised his hands to show that he had no weapons and posed no threat.
A woman even more robust and taller than these already tall and strong archers stepped out from the crowd and asked something with a serious expression.
Unfortunately, Ethan still couldn't understand.
"This feeling is too depressing."
At this moment, he undoubtedly missed the Ancient One. At least the Sorcerer Supreme could use mental links for initial communication and even transmit some language information to him, allowing him to learn a new language in the shortest possible time – mastering it was impossible, but enough for basic daily conversations.
In fact, the introductory books the Ancient One gave him included spells for mental communication with civilizations that had language barriers. Ethan had long had his eye on this spell, but his mental power cultivation was nowhere near the required level. Even though this spell didn't require magic power to cast, he couldn't perform it.
Just as Ethan was pondering what to do, the archers who had tightly surrounded him opened up a gap, and a woman walked towards him.
She was a very plump woman, slightly overweight, but her broad frame prevented her from looking bloated.
She wore a long brown dress that trailed on the ground, a purple top, and a light purple hooded shawl... or was it a cloak? The ends reached her upper arms, while the back part hung down to her calves.
The woman also wore a necklace that looked inconspicuous but emitted strange waves of energy, instantly capturing Ethan's attention.
"You are..."
Just as he was about to speak, he remembered the language barrier and awkwardly waved his hand to show his goodwill.
To his surprise, the familiar feeling appeared again; this woman was also a mage capable of communicating through mental links.
"Hello, young man. I am Akara, a priestess of the Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye. Although I don't know where you came from, and you used a teleportation circle that hasn't been used in a long time, welcome to our camp."
"Uh... hello, Priestess Akara... My name is Ethan, just passing through. As for the teleportation circle you mentioned... that might be a misunderstanding."
The name Akara was too familiar. Combined with the group of well-built female archers and the woman who was even sturdier than a man, he immediately realized which world he had arrived in this time – Diablo!
Or, strictly speaking, the world of Diablo 2. He should currently be standing in the 'safe zone' of Act 1 at the beginning of the game, a camp built by the remaining priestesses of the Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye and a group of Rogues, known in the game as the Rogue Encampment.
This game was incredibly popular back then. Even Ethan, who wasn't particularly interested in it, had played it countless times at the urging of his friends.
Perhaps now, many years later, most of the details have been completely forgotten, but he still remembers the content and some characters from the early stages of the game.
Akara, a priestess in the game who could restore players' status. He wondered if in this more realistic Diablo world, she was incredibly powerful, or just an ordinary priestess?
Currently, it seems more likely that she is a powerful priestess.
Maintaining a cautious and simple conversation, Akara helped translate a few words to the strong woman next to her, Kashya, after which the archers surrounding him gradually dispersed, leaving only Akara and Kashya.
"I apologize for what happened just now. The forces of darkness are growing stronger every day, and we have lost all our teleportation hub points. So when we saw the teleportation circle activate, we thought it was an invasion from the demons."
"No, it's alright."
Although he hadn't played Diablo to the level of a hardcore player, he generally understood the background. In an environment where they could be killed by increasing numbers of dark creatures at any time, being overly cautious was not unreasonable.
"So, young man, where do you come from? Where are you heading? And why did you use a teleportation circle to reach our camp?"
With Akara's help, Kashya confirmed that there was no demonic aura on the young man, but she maintained her usual caution and asked through Akara's translation.
"I came from a very distant place. There was just a slight accident while using magic to teleport. As for arriving at your camp, it should be purely by chance."
"Teleportation?" Kashya turned her head to look at Akara beside her. "So you are a mage?"
While translating, Akara frowned because she didn't feel any magical energy fluctuations on Ethan, but the young man could skillfully use mental power to communicate with her, proving that he had at least received training in mental power manipulation.
"Uh... I haven't even started yet, I just learned some basic knowledge."
Akara nodded. This situation matched her judgment, and she also explained her deduction to Kashya.
Upon hearing this, Kashya realized that the thin young man in front of her wasn't even a mage apprentice, just a rookie who had just come into contact with mysterious powers. However, this raised another noticeable question.
"If you've only just started, how did you cast such a high-level magic as teleportation?"
"A scroll!" During this time, Ethan had also been refining his 'lie' in his mind, and he happened to know of an item that fit the setting of this world. "I originally intended to use a teleportation scroll, but something seemed to go wrong when I used it."
Besides translating, Akara, who had been examining something, also nodded to Kashya: "All connected teleportation circles are still closed and unusable. It's likely that when this young man used a teleportation scroll, it happened to connect to our camp, temporarily activating the teleportation circle, which is why he ended up here."
Akara rubbed her brow: "There are still many unknown aspects of mysterious magical energy, and problems can easily occur. This is certainly possible."
Kashya got the answer she wanted and lowered her guard against Ethan. She even arranged a separate tent for him to rest in.
There was no surveillance, and they even provided some food and hot water. This was thanks to the fact that the enemies this world faced were demonic creatures and creatures mutated by the invasion of dark power. Ethan had no dark energy fluctuations on him and was a pure human, inherently on the same side. As long as a few questions were resolved, he wouldn't be treated as an enemy.
After chatting with Akara for a while longer, Ethan gradually learned that although this world's prototype was a game, it had huge differences from the game.
There was no storage space – a backpack was just a backpack, and it wasn't as convenient as being able to put things into some space at will. If you wanted to carry more things, you had to make your physique stronger.
Potions did exist, but they weren't as magical as in the game, where they could make someone jump around lively even with critical health. Red potions could accelerate wound healing, usually used internally and externally. As for blue potions, he hadn't seen them yet.
There were also no class choices – the classes in the game were actually from different sects or forces here. If Ethan wanted to become a Paladin or a Sorcerer, he would have to join the corresponding force, pass strict trials, and then undergo rigorous training to potentially become a qualified Paladin or Sorcerer.
This was obviously impossible! Although Ethan's stay in the Diablo world this time was a bit longer than the last, it was still only a month.
A month to pass trials to gain entry, and then gain favor to receive sufficient inheritance and guidance... Ethan decided he might as well just go to sleep. Even if he were the Son of the Plane, he couldn't do it; just traveling from the Rogue Encampment to those places would take more than a month.
"Time is limited, so what can I gain in this world?"
Simply replenishing food and water? Maybe he could get a small amount, but looking at the situation in the Rogue Encampment, where most people had to rotate the use of a single tent, taking away large amounts of food and water was unrealistic, unless he had something for trade or the currency of this world.
Furthermore, the power level in the Diablo world was not low. If he just took some food back without learning anything, it would be too much of a waste of spacetime energy giving him a full month.
"I need to plan carefully. A month's time should at least give me a certain level of self-preservation... I don't expect to be able to instantly kill Andariel, but I must have the ability to defend myself against ordinary people."
He didn't forget that the world he would return to was also full of dangers.
"So, learning combat skills is the top priority... Although physical fitness cannot be improved in a short time, basic knowledge can be learned first, and then I can persist in training after returning."
"In a short period, what can enhance strength besides skills is external force..."
Although the Diablo world has a general European medieval setting, it doesn't mean their weapons are weak... On the contrary, this is a world full of mysterious power, and even a broken stick casually thrown aside could potentially hide great power.
"Maybe I can find a blacksmith to custom-make some weapons?"
Ethan's first thought was to build a gun, but the feasibility was low. Not to mention whether the blacksmith's skill was up to par, his complete lack of knowledge about the structure of firearms was a major problem. Even if he could build the simplest usable flintlock, how would he solve the problem of propellant?
"Therefore, cold weapons with magical power are the best choice... So the question now is, how should I obtain these?"